The largest opposition party in Israel, Kadima, just joined Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's coalition, obviating the need for elections in September, and turning Bibi into something akin to what only Iran has previously had: a Supreme Leader. (Granted, one supreme leader came to power democratically, and the other did not.) Bibi now stands to be the strongest prime minister of Israel in recent history. The newly-elected leader of Kadima, Shaul Mofaz, recently said he would never in a million years join a coalition with Netanyahu, so this was inevitable, I guess. Speculation is rampant about why Bibi brought in Mofaz. Here are some scenarios:

1) Bibi is forming the closest thing he can to a national unity government in order to strike Iran if he feels the upcoming P5 + 1 talks about Iran's nuclear program have failed. Mofaz is on record against a raid, but his support would be important, and no doubt Netanyahu (and his sidekick, Ehud Barak, the defense minister) could convince him that it is necessary, if they come to the conclusion that they have to act.

2) Bibi wanted to reduce the power of his party's right-wing by diluting it with the centrists of Kadima

My guess would be #4. The demographics of Israel make the issue of the Haredim ia a potential threat to the existence of Israel as it is today, a far greater long range threat than Iran. A nation with such a small relative population cannot afford to have a steadily growing percentage of its population not sharing in the burdens of its defense

My guess would be #4. The demographics of Israel make the issue of the Haredim ia a potential threat to the existence of Israel as it is today, a far greater long range threat than Iran. A nation with such a small relative population cannot afford to have a steadily growing percentage of its population not sharing in the burdens of its defense

lol.....

The Haredim are serving in the armed forces a lot more these days.....

..... I suppose you have not heard that news

Their high birthrates are a major asset to Israel.

Haredim make up for the low birthrates of the less religious Jews and the "atheist" Jews in Israel

I have three Haredim cousins in Israel and they have 22 children total

Netanyahu is now in a very strong position vis a vis Obama. Bibi has a unity government and Obama has an election in November where he can’t afford to further alienate the Jewish vote. Bibi now controls Obama’s political future to a great degree. He tried to get Bibi a couple months ago to agree to not strike before the election. LOL Netanyahu would only agree not to strike immediately but went on to say this can only be put off for weeks and maybe a few months, not years. Netanyahu now has the ability to not only strike at an existential threat, but also to politically wound his arch-nemesis.

The oil markets will go crazy when the strike occurs. With Europe in total political and financial disarray the entire construct may implode.

If Bibi were to ever have a green light it’s between now and November.

Hell has frozen over. I agree with Jeff Goldberg on an Israel-related topic. (Although calling former Labor Prime Minister Barak a sidekick is ridiculous!) Goldberg missed the recent Likud meeting, where religious nationalists and some secular nationalists tried to install Danny Elon as party leader. This National-Unity government will give him room to make an offer to the PLO. It is also in response to the loss of Sarkozy in France.

The Haredim are not as much of a threat as you think. The number of Haredi Dati Leumi, Nationalist Ultra-Orthodox are growing. They now have their own unit in the military, leading to utter hysteria from the left.

Sounds like it’s only a subset of the Haredim that are the problem. Thanks for enlightening me. Of course in a country where coalition building often trumps consensus building, splinter groups sometimes have clout beyond their numbers. Maybe Netanyahu moved to defuse such problems now that Kadima is under adult management.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.